Environmental Progress - Winter 1999

"Waste Not" Efforts Win Award

Innovative programs demonstrate how to reduce waste through reuse

Members of the award-winning solid waste unit are, from left, Dan Rion, Kathi Davis, Jenni Rossi and Rhett Rossi.

Efforts of the Waste Reduction Unit in the Illinois EPA's solid waste management section have earned recognition from the Illinois Recycling Association. The group earned the 1998 award for the Household Hazardous Waste Collection program, Partners for Waste Paint Solutions program, and the Charter Community program.

The group was cited for "Continuing Excellence in a Waste Reduction Program" during the IRA's 18th annual conference in Oak Brook Terrace last April.

Household hazardous waste collections (HHWC) provide homeowners with a practical and environmentally-friendly way to get rid of common but potentially hazardous materials often found in basements, garages, bathrooms and kitchens. The Agency pays 100 percent of the program cost, using funds generated by state fees paid into the solid Waste Management Fund on landfilled solid waste.

A local cosponsor is responsible for all advertising/ promotion of HHWC events as well as picking a suitable site, providing volunteers for surveying and traffic control, and arranging for a non-profit organization to pick up all unused/unopened waste that is set aside during the collection. Cosponsors can elect to sponsor an event alone, or can combine efforts with other organizations to expand the target area or to assist with advertising and promotion.

Since the household hazardous waste program began with three pilot collections in 1988, the list of acceptable wastes has been expanded to include household batteries and fluorescent lamps. Cosponsoring agencies may elect to accept auto batteries, fire extinguishers, and propane tanks if the cosponsor provides a vendor to pick up these wastes. A local high school is invited to bring its hazardous educational waste to each of the pickups, and contractors are required to set aside unopened/unused waste for evaluation and possible reuse by a nonprofit organization selected by the cosponsor.

206 collections since 1988 have served 183,000 households

Since 1988 the waste reduction unit has conducted 206 collections and served 183,669 households while properly disposing of 37,669 fifty-five gallon drums of household hazardous waste at a cost of $13,541,086.

In addition, the waste reduction unit has been instrumental in setting up permanent household hazardous waste sites in Naperville and Rockford and inaugurated a Partners for Waste Paint Solutions Program (PWPSP) and a Charter Community Waste Reduction Program (CCWRP).

More than 30,000 gallons of paint have been returned

The waste paint program diverts residential paint out of the waste stream. A cooperative agreement between the Agency and paint retailers, it encourages stores to allow residential customers to return usable or unusable paint products for reformulation or disposal. In the past two
fiscal years the Partners for Waste Paint Solutions program has set up 27 paint locations in 11 counties. The program collected 14,355 gallons of paint (11,000 of which was reused) in FY '96 at a cost of $22,440 and another 16,410 gallons of paint were collected in FY'97 (10,800 of which was reused) at a cost of $29,842.

Charter Community Waste Reduction Program communities, planning groups, waste agencies, and counties which agree to participate in paint recycling, provide financial support, develop recycling outlets for liquid used oil, sponsor on-going household hazardous waste education, and develop reuse options are guranteed annual household hazardous waste collections. Currently, Kane County and the South Suburban Managers and Mayors Association are Charter Community members.